


If We Were A Movie

by grasslandgirl



Category: American Vandal (TV)
Genre: 'how many ridiculous tropes can i get into one fic' AU, A Midsummer Night's Dream - Freeform, Acting AU, Eldonado, M/M, Meet-Cute, Mutual Pining, Theater AU, coffee shop AU, gabi ships it obv, god im useless, im sorry in advance this is going to be terribly self indulgent deal w it, lets see if i can fit dyl in here somewhere bc we all know im a #1 dylan maxwell stan, loose hannah montana reference?? literally just the title but sure, more of a meet awkward but yeah sure, rated teen for language bc i curse and so do they its canon dont fight me on it, return of the oblivious pining moron boys, this is a trashfire sorry/not sorry, this isn't where i thought this was going to go????
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-29
Updated: 2018-11-08
Packaged: 2019-08-09 07:59:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16445930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grasslandgirl/pseuds/grasslandgirl
Summary: im sorry netflix can suck my ass this fic is written out of spitealso there isn't enough gay theatre kid!Sam content in this fandom so now yall have to deal w my obnoxious gay theatre kid ass  writing self indulgent bullshit :// sorry~~~aka. a fic in which Sam and Peter didn't meet as kids, Pete didn't go to Hanover, they didn't do Vandal, and now just Happen to go to the same university, and are pining over one another w/o realizing the other even knows who they are :)feat. a ridiculous amount of stupid tropes culminating in a probably ooc fic. whoops





	1. Break A Leg

**Author's Note:**

> i deadass did theatre all throughout highschool SO here we go and I'd like to apologize in advance bc i have no one to beta WHOOPS

Peter wasn’t a big theatre person. He preferred the movies, typically, and more specifically, he preferred watching obscure indie flicks alone either on his laptop or at the local theatre. He was a movie maker and a documentarian himself, after all, or an aspiring one at least, so it was fully understandable that he prefer movies to live theatre. He was a perfectionist and more than a little shy, and the thought of having to interact with performers right on stage from the audience- not to mention acting himself- was a little outside of his comfort zone. So, for most of his life, Peter stayed on the other side of the camera and the silver screen, more than comfortable with watching, filming, and editing movies.

So, when his friend Gabi tried to drag him to a local theatre performance off campus, Peter was more than a little wary.

He and Gabi had met in a hellish 8 AM class the year before, when Peter was a freshman and Gabi a junior, and had bonded over their mutual hatred of anything happening before 11 in the morning. Despite being two years his senior, Gabi and Peter got along fairly well, and found out that they almost attended the same high school- Hanover in Oceanside, California- if Peter hadn’t moved away at the beginning of middle school. Gabi was also interested in film, but not to the same extent as Peter, and the two of them fostered a friendship over the course of the semester that lasted them past it’s completion.

“Come on, Peter, my friend has a leading role in this and I have to go to support him, and I’m not about to go alone!” Gabi said, pleading to him through the phone. He groaned, she had been on him about coming with her to the show for the last few weeks, and he had hoped that she would eventually let it go and find someone else to drag along. Peter should have known better.

“Gabi, I told you, I’m not a theater person, and I, uh, have an essay due anyway so I can’t go.”

“Bullshit. I know you’re not about to do your essay ahead of time, you’re just going to stay home tonight and watch some shitty indie movie you’ve seen a million times! You’re coming with me,” She continued, and Peter could tell there was no way he was getting out of it at this point, “I already bought us tickets and you owe me for that time you dragged me to see _London Has Fallen_ last year.”

“What? I-” Peter sputtered, but Gabi cut him off, seemingly on a roll.

“-Yeah that movie was shitty, Peter, so you owe me, and anyway, you need to get out of your dorm more often. We’re going, end of discussion. I'll pick you up at 7, ok?” Peter nodded his head mutely, knowing Gabi wasn’t really asking. “See you, Pete.” The call clicked off as she hung up, and Peter was left wondering what the hell he had gotten himself into.

Peter had a few hours to burn before Gabi said she would stop by his dorms to leave for the show, and had already finished his classes for the day, so he spent the time doing what he did best: research. Gabi hadn’t mentioned the name of the show or the company they were going to see- or even what her friend's name was- but Peter knew it was through their college, and there couldn’t be that many local productions performing tonight.

Sure enough, he found the university’s theatre department website, promoting their fall production of Shakespeare’s _A Midsummer Night’s Dream,_ running for the next three weekends. It listed the actors on one of the subpages, but Gabi hadn’t ever mentioned her friend by name, so Peter couldn’t figure out who they were going to see. He recognized a couple people from around campus; a girl who was in his English seminar class freshman year, a different girl who sat behind him in his Psychology class, and a cute guy Peter recognized from a coffee shop on campus.

The webpage gave a brief summary of the department’s mission statement and a summary of the play. Peter had read _Romeo and Juliet_ way back in high school- and hadn’t hated it- but he hadn’t read _A Midsummer Night’s Dream,_ and the given summary was fairly bare boned. He skimmed through the plot of the play listed on Wikipedia, and figured out it was one of Shakespeare’s comedies- and a fairly convoluted one at that. But something didn’t make sense. Peter looked back over the list of characters on the Wiki, trying to figure out what felt out of place, and then went back to the department website to compare. _There!_ Peter grinned, one of the characters was listed as Helena on the Wiki, but Helenus on the department page- they must have genderswapped the character in this production.

“Peter!” Gabi yelled through his door, knocking aggressively and shaking him out of his research spiral. Peter jumped up and scrambled to the door, letting her into his dorm room. Thankfully, his suitemate wasn’t there to be yelled at alongside him. “Come on!” Gabi said as she strode into the small room, “Let’s go! Grab your shit, I’ve been texting you from downstairs for the last five minutes, and you’re not getting out of this.” Peter grinned sheepishly, grabbing his phone from where it lay face down, halfway across the room from where he had been sitting at his laptop. He pulled on his sneakers and his favorite hoodie, hoping he wasn’t too casual, and followed Gabi out of the room and the building.

Despite her brash manner entering his room, Peter didn’t think Gabi was in a bad mood. If anything, she was suspiciously cheerful and excited to be going to see a show on a rainy and cold Friday night. He didn’t know much about the friend of Gabi’s that was in the show, just that they had basically grown up together and that he was a sophomore like Peter. If anything, Peter was surprised Gabi hadn’t introduced them sooner; she was always trying to set him up with new friends.

They got to the theater right as the house was opening, and Gabi handed him his ticket so that he could get in. “You owe me a coffee, by the way,” She said as they waited in line, “to pay me back for buying your ticket.”

“I didn’t even want to go!” He protested.

“Fine, you owe me a coffee for making me put up with your antisocial ass.” She quipped back, but they were both smiling. As much as Peter would rather be home watching something on his laptop right now, he had to admit- it was nice to hang out with Gabi outside of studying or class. He would never admit it, but she was right, he did spend more time than he probably should locked up in his dorm working on or watching movies.

When they finally got to their seats, programs in hand, Peter finally asked, “so which one is your friend?” Gabi grinned, wide and with a sparkle in her eye.

“Oh, his name’s Sam,” she said, opening her program and pointing him out, “we basically grew up together, and he’s playing Helenus which is one of the leads!” There was a note of pride in Gabi’s voice as she turned to look at the empty stage, no doubt envisioning her friend. Peter scrutinized the picture in the program, the same one that had been up on the website. He had light brown hair and he was smirking like he knew something, and Peter froze because Gabi’s old best friend was the same guy who worked at Peter’s go to coffee shop. The same guy he _maybe sort of might have_ had a giant crush on since last spring. “Yeah, I mentioned something to him about getting dinner or drinks or something after the show,” Gabi said after a minute, seemingly unaware of Peter losing his mind. She glanced at him sidelong, “if that’s ok with you, Mr.-anti-social-theatre-hater?” Some small fraction of Peter’s mind noticed that Gabi was smiling a little too widely, that the sparkle in her eye was a little too mischievous to be considered normal; but most of him was focused on seeming like a normal person who wasn’t pining over one of his only friends’ childhood BFF. Who was a lead in the show she had dragged him to see. Who they were meeting up with after the show.

To say the least, Peter was fucked.

Peter didn’t know Sam. Up until now, he didn’t even know his name, because he had never worn a name tag at work. Peter just always thought of him as ‘cute barista,’ the one with the swoopy, fluffy hair, the wide smile, and who always remembered Peter’s order. Peter stumbled across the shop- Vandal Coffee- halfway through his freshman year, when all he could focus on was the cold of winter and his looming finals. Needless to say, Peter had been in dire need of coffee on a regular basis, because he didn’t have a particularly stable sleep cycle on a good day, much less during finals. Vandal Coffee was warm and surprisingly quiet, and quickly became one of Peter’s go to places to study or edit. And it didn’t hurt that one of the baristas was really cute.

Gabi elbowed him, shaking Peter out of his thoughts, and he noticed the lights in the audience were going down. He sat up a little straighter in his seat, somehow suddenly nervous. Slowly, lights faded up on the stage.

_Here we go._


	2. Merde

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fun fact, merde means shit in french, and is used as a kind of "break a leg" substitute amongst dancers (ballerinas, actors in musicals, etc) bc in dance-heavy shows, breaking a leg is an actual concern lmao (i think it also has some roots in stepping in shit from back in ye olden days but idk exactly lol)  
> also (idk if anyone cares) but the reason i keep using theatre vs theater in different circumstances is that they actually have slightly different denotations: theatRE is the art form/performance that you think of, like on broadway or in the Tony's; theatER is the physical place/space where performances are held, such as an auditorium!  
> #terribletheatrekidfactoftheday

Sam was pretty sure there was something magical about the air on opening night. Something about everything finally coming together, the combined energy of the performers and the audience, the exhilaration of finally being able to share your hours upon hours of work with people. There isn’t anything like it. Sickening nerves mixed with blistering excitement mixed with practiced focus. Sam closed his eyes, centering himself, and tried not to think about the audience milling around in the house right now. People who had come to see _him_.

Ok, well, probably not to see _just him,_ but the point still stood. Being a lead was a double edged sword. You got the attention and the applause and the spotlight- figurative and literal- yes. But along with that came double the pressure and the work. _But it was worth it,_ Sam thought, _or at least I’m pretty sure it’ll be worth it._ He shook any lingering tension out of his arms, glancing around to check on his castmates’ final checks and warmups before they all went on stage. Paige caught his eye, shooting him a small smile and a wink from across the green room. She was playing Hermia, his best friend and romantic rival- sort of.

Their director had genderswapped one of the lovers, Helena, to be played as a boy. Helenus was in love with Demetrius, who didn’t love him but instead Helenus’s friend, Hermia, who was in turn in love with Lysander- and he with her- against her father’s will. It was more than a little complicated, as Shakespeare’s plays usually were, and that wasn’t even getting into the fairies, the players, and the hijinks that occurred later in the play.

Sam bit back a smile. Shakespeare was often considered stuffy and intellectual, but he had been surprised at the beginning of rehearsals at how easy and funny the script had been.

Most of his acting experience preceding this had been more contemporary straight plays and musicals, especially at his high school, Hanover. He and Gabi had auditioned for _Much Ado About Nothing_ \- a different Shakespearean comedy- but he didn’t end up getting cast in that production. _Midsummer_ was a few artistic steps away from Sam’s comfort zone, but it had really turned out for the best. He got to be really good friends with his cast mates, especially the people the other three young lovers, and step more into the spotlight for the first time.

The knot of nerves in Sam’s stomach tightened a little more, though, at the thought of Gabi. She said she was coming to opening night with a friend, and she had winked at him like she did when she tried to set him up with Scott Winter back in high school. A wink that meant she was scheming, which never ended up working out for Sam, usually, and anyway, he wasn’t looking for a boyfriend.

He was more than happy to hopelessly pine over a regular at the coffeeshop he worked at, but Gabi didn’t need to know that.

The stage manager called them all to places, and suddenly backstage and the green room was a flurry of activity, nerves, and wishes for people to break legs. Sam was pretty sure he heard a couple people mutter _‘merde’_ to themselves- which wasn’t even really a theatre thing- but actors were a superstitious people, and on opening night they could take all the luck they could get. Sam let himself have one last rush of pre-show anxiety before focusing on the work at hand. He could deal with Gabi and whatever she had planned _after_ he absolutely killed his opening night performance.

* * *

Ok, maybe Sam _wasn’t_ ready to deal with whatever Gabi had planned.

He was pretty good at blocking out the audience during a show- dropping entirely into his character, focusing on what was happening onstage, not in the house- but when he looked out into the crowd during bows, there she was, standing and applauding. And standing beside her was the cute guy from the coffee shop. _Shit_ , Sam thought, _why does she have to be psychic?_

He managed to get offstage after bows without actually losing his mind, and for a minute after the curtains closed, he was swept up in the post-show rush with the rest of the cast.

They had _done it,_ they had survived and the show had gone _wonderfully,_ and they still had two weekend’s worth of shows to go. _There was something a little magic about finishing a performance, too,_ Sam thought. But eventually, inevitably, the hugs and handshakes and joyous laughter of his castmates faded as everyone rushed to get out of costume to greet their friends and family. And with the loss of distractions came remembering that Gabi had somehow figured out he had a crush on the guy from the coffee shop, and had somehow managed to drag him to opening night.

Sam didn’t know whether to feel giddy or nervous.

He got out of costume as quickly as he could, sharing congratulations and jokes with the other guys in the dressing room, and then headed to the lobby.

“Sam, hold up!” Sam glanced over his shoulder and broke into a grin as he saw Ming rushing down the hall toward him, waving his hands comically. Ming ran up and slung an arm around Sam’s shoulder, half laughing.

Ming played Puck, the trickster fairy, in _Midsummer_ ; and despite the two of them not having many scenes with each other, he and Sam had hit it off and grew to be good friends over the course of rehearsals.

“You going to greet people?” Sam asked as they continued down the hall.

Ming nodded, still grinning. “Yeah, I have some friends from my Psych class that said they were gonna come; what about you?”

Sam felt a light blush rise in his cheeks. “Uh, yeah, an old friend came tonight to cheer me on and brought another friend of hers.”

The two boys walked into the lobby, greeted by raucous applause from people standing around to greet the actors. They split apart, both winding their way through the crowd to find their friends.

Sam kept being stopped- by friends and strangers alike- and congratulated on his performance. He thanked everyone profusely and couldn’t stop smiling, but kept moving through the crowd, eyes peeled for Gabi. When he finally found her, grinning wide and proud, he pulled her in a tight hug, trying not to stare at cute-cafe-boy standing awkwardly behind her.

“You were incredible,” Gabi said, punctuating every word with a sharp poke in his arm, after they broke apart. “I can’t believe this is your first Shakespeare, what the fuck, Ecklund, you’re a natural?” Her tone was incredulous and slightly put off, as though she really was irritated with Sam, but he knew her well enough to read the pride and happiness for him, shining in her eyes.

“Well some of us have talent, Granger,” he teased, and she shot him a glare that was a little too close to a smile for him to take seriously.

“You- uh, everything was really good,” Cafe-boy (Sam really had to learn his name) stammered from off to the side, his ears a little pink and an awkward, but endearing, smile on his face.

“Yeah,” Gabi said, poking the other boy in the arm, “You’ve got a new theatre-convert in Peter, here, Sam.” Peter. Cafe-boy’s name was _Peter_.

“Right, hi,” Sam said, sticking out his hand abruptly, “I’m Sam.” Sam hoped he didn’t remember him mooning at him at the coffee shop. Sam hoped his hand wasn’t sweaty. Sam hoped-

“I’m Peter,” he said, cutting off Sam’s internal monologue and shaking his hand. Sam tried not to read too much into the other boy’s wide grin, and he tried not to blush at the hand contact. But according to Gabi’s smirk, he was failing at both.

“Well, I’m glad you came to the show, Peter,” Sam said, trying not to absolutely lose his shit.

“Yeah I basically had to drag him out of his dorm-” Gabi started, but Peter cut her off.

“But it was a really great show,” he said quickly, “and I’m glad, um-” He winced a little, and it was unfair how cute it was. “I’m glad that Gabi dragged me to see it.”

Sam knew he had a ridiculous smile on his face, the kind that pushed crinkles into his eyes and made his cheeks pink, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. If there was one thing better than getting a heartfelt compliment after a show, it was getting one from a cute boy. _Focus, Ecklund_ , Sam told himself, _it’s bad enough you’re hung up on him at work_.

“So, I don’t know about you boys, but I’m starving,” Gabi said, glancing between him and Peter, “what say you we hit the town and get some celebratory dinner?”

Sam had to dip backstage and grab his jacket and bag out of the green room, but after getting his shit and greeting any and everyone else he saw on the way, the trio left the theatre.

“So,” Gabi started as they walked through the parking lot towards her car- Sam had gotten a ride from Ming to the theater- “who’s idea was it to genderflip Helena?” Sam grinned, he should’ve known Gabi’s interrogation about the show was coming.

“The director, I don’t know if she was looking to cast a male Helena at auditions, but she told me and Simon- the guy playing Demetrius- that we had the perfect chemistry for the duo pretty early on in rehearsals. Anyway, it’s not like it changed much in the script, and it was really cool to play romantic interests opposite a guy.”

“Did you tell him?” She asked, and Sam saw Peter’s face grow marginally confused as he climbed in the back behind Sam in the passenger seat.

“That I’m gay?” _Smooth, Ecklund, really smooth._ “Uh, yeah, and he’s bi but he has a girlfriend so it was all cool.” Peter was suspiciously quiet from the backseat as Gabi pulled out of the busy parking lot and Sam finished talking. Sam bit back the urge to turn around and look at Peter’s expression. “Um, but Gabs,” he said instead, “a friend of mine asked after you in the greenroom when I went to grab my shit.” Two could play at whatever game she was playing.

Sam swore Gabi’s cheeks looked a little pink as she said, in a forced neutrality, “Oh?”

“Yeah,” Sam had a shit-eating grin on his face now, “Jenna, she played Titania?” Gabi’s cheeks were definitely red now, even as she carefully studied the road in front of her, avoiding Sam’s gaze. Sam heard Peter snicker from the backseat, and turned a little to shoot him a conspiratorial smile. “She asked who my hot friend was-”

“-And you knew it couldn’t’ve been about me.” Peter piped up from behind him, and Sam lost any residual composure he had, collapsing into giggles. He could hear Peter laughing too, and Gabi pursed her lips in the way that meant she was hiding a smile.

“No, but seriously,” Sam said when his and Peter’s laughter had passed, “she asked me to give you her number, if you’re single. And unless you’ve gotten back together with Brandon…”

“Shut up!” Gabi finally burst out, shooting Sam a glare; but she was full on smiling now so it wasn’t very effective. “Fine, fine give me the fairy queen’s number. Whatever.”

“You know her really well,” Peter mock-whispered, leaning around Sam’s seat in a way that made his pulse speed up, just a little, “she was talking about how pretty Titania was all intermission.”

“Peter Maldonado!” Gabi shrieked, swatting behind her chair in the hopes of hitting Peter. “You little bitch!”

“Oh, we’re gonna be great friends,” Sam said, back to laughing, and offered Peter a high five from around his seat. He hoped the flush in his cheeks could be passed off as the glow from the red light.

“That’s it!” Gabi called out, “Talking privileges are revoked, we are listening to music in silence for the rest of the ride!” She leaned over to switch on her bluetooth on the dashboard.

“Whatever, _mom_ ,” Sam said.

“So long as it’s not shitty,” Peter quipped at the same time, and Sam almost burst back into laughter.

Gabi glared- again- at the two of them, saying only, “I should never have thrown you two together,” before cranking the music up so loud Sam almost couldn’t hear himself think.

It was a good thing Sam liked 80’s music.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here we go! im going to be really honest i only have a vague sense of where this is going, but hopefully i'll figure it out along the way! thank you all for your wonderful kudos and comments, and i hope you all have enjoyed this chapter! xox-


	3. Two 'til Places

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> guess who's BAAAAACKK~  
> im so sorry yall ive just been really blocked on this sucker and having a hard time getting out a chapter im comfortable publishing :( this still isn't my favorite thing ive written and im sure it could be better, but at this point im just ready to keep moving forward w some of the other ideas i have lmao, so here we go!

Gabi took them to a cute little taco place a few streets down from the theatre for dinner, and Peter was surprised about how well he and Sam got on, especially considering this was their first real conversation, and that Peter had a slightly debilitating crush on him. They ate and talked and laughed for hours, and Peter finally found out how Gabi and Sam knew each other.

The two of them had grown up across the street from one another, and had been best friends basically from birth. Sam had been doing theatre since high school and revealed that Gabi had been the one to get him into acting, which lead to a series of embarrassing- and hysterical- anecdotes about the shows they had been in together in high school.

It was so weird to think that if he hadn’t moved, Peter could’ve grown up right alongside the two of them.

Not that he thought he’d ever be interested in acting.

But Gabi had been right- Peter and Sam got on like a house on fire, much to her often frustration- and for one of the first times, Peter found himself not wanting to leave early and be alone in his dorm room. And it only had a _little_ bit to do with how cute Sam was, laughing with guacamole on the tip of his nose.

The next morning, however, was when the shit hit the fan.

Peter had planned, as per usual, to spend his Saturday at Vandal Coffee, working on editing his latest project and trying- and failing- not to stare at the cute barista who always worked Saturdays. The problem was, the barista now had a name- _Sam Ecklund_. And after seeing him perform and having dinner with him and Gabi, Peter had fallen even harder for Sam, the cute-barista-slash-actor, than he already had.

It wasn’t like he could anonymously pine over Sam now, not like he had been since he first discovered Vandal Coffee. Sam knew who he was now- they were friends, Peter was pretty sure- and if he was caught crushing on him, the budding friendship would be ruined. Also, Peter was pretty sure Gabi might kick his ass.

So he was stuck with a conundrum that centered around one crucial thing: whether or not Sam remembered him as a regular. And, in classic Peter fashion, he decided the best way to deal with said problem was to map it out on one of his whiteboards. The ones he used to mark out plots and issues for his films, but of course, this was more pressing.

On one hand, if Sam did remember Peter as a regular at Vandal, him not showing up on Saturday morning like he normally did could raise some red flags. What if Sam thought Peter didn’t like him? Or that he was awkward? Or that something was wrong?

On the other hand, if Sam didn’t remember Peter always coming to Vandal previously, Peter coming to the shop as normal could connect the dots for him. What if Sam hadn’t realized the creepy guy pining over him while he was working was Peter, and him coming to the shop ruined that? Ruined any potential for friendship? What if it made it seem like Peter was some stalker who was following Sam around- first to the show, and now to his place of work?

It was hopeless.

Then, by the glory of god, his phone buzzed. Peter picked up from where it lay, as always, haphazardly thrown on his bed, and read that Gabi had sent him a text.

_Gabi: hey u wanna come to Vandal w me i need caffeine_

_Sometimes_ , Peter thought, _Gabi being psychic is a pain in my ass. But thank god for it today_.

_Peter: yeah ok_

_Peter: meet u there in 10?_

_Gabi: k_

One problem solved, a million to go.

One of the reasons Peter liked Vandal Coffee so much was that it was really close to his dorms. Peter didn’t have a car on campus, even as a sophomore, and he mooched most of his rides off of his friends- Gabi, primarily- when he needed them. So the shop being so close meant that he could go whenever he wanted, without having to worry about transportation. Other than that (and the cute baristas), the shop was quiet and more private than the Starbucks and bigger cafes on campus tended to be. It had lots of little nooks and crannies with booths and tables shoved into them, perfect for Peter to spend hours writing and editing in private.

Peter and Gabi had gone to get coffee there a few times after Peter discovered it, but never when Sam was working, and Gabi had never mentioned her old friend being a barista. _Maybe she doesn’t know?_ Peter wondered, _That doesn’t sound like Gabi_.

Normally, Peter preferred to get places earlier as opposed to later, but this time he wanted to make sure he didn’t get to Vandal before Gabi did. She was his cover up-reason for going, and he was standing by that. He ran into her- _perfect_ \- right outside the shop, and they walked in together.

“Hi, welcome to Vandal Coffee,” one of the people behind the counter- _not Sam_ \- called out as they walked inside, and Peter raised a hand in silent greeting. At first look, it didn’t seem like Sam was working today- the first time Peter had been there when Sam wasn’t- _but maybe he was taking off work because of the show the night before?_ He asked himself, trying not to spiral back into the panic from earlier. Gabi didn’t seem phased either way, so either she didn’t expect Sam to be there, or knew why he wasn’t. Peter just didn’t know which.

“Hi, yeah,” Peter said when they got up to the counter, “can I have a caramel latte? Medium?” It was his normal order, especially when fall hit and it started to get colder, and the barista- the same girl who had welcomed them when they first came in- punched in his order and told him his total.

Peter paid, and then waited by the counter for Gabi to order. Once she had, she told him to go scout out a table, that she’d bring both their drinks when they were ready.

Peter went straight for his favorite table. It was in one of the back corners, but right by a window facing the street. The windows in the cafe were fairly dark, which meant customers inside the shop could see out, but not the other way around. Peter’s booth was one of the older ones- the whole store was an endearing hodgepodge of different chairs, booths, and tables- the faux leather upholstery was worn soft over time, with high backs on either side that provided further privacy.

Peter curled into one side of the booth, shoving his backpack into the crack between the edge of the booth and the window, like he always did. He pulled his laptop out, plugging its charge cord into the outlet right next to his seat- another reason why this was his favorite booth- and tried to pump out a few more sentences of his essay before Gabi got there with the drinks, and inevitably started interrogating him.

He tried to focus on the social commentary behind the Handmaid’s Tale, but his mind kept drifting back to Sam the night before.

It was weird. Peter was introverted on top of being antisocial and private, which made it hard to make new friends, especially not quickly. It took the majority of a semester- most of which was taken up with her never leaving him alone- for Peter to really get close with Gabi; but he had warmed up to Sam almost immediately. And it didn’t have to do with the lingering attraction, he didn’t think. If anything, that part of it should have been more of a hindrance than an asset, given Peter’s track record of becoming an awkward stuttering mess around most other people he liked.

But being around Sam didn’t feel like being around anyone else. Even after only really knowing and talking to him for a few hours, Peter felt like he had known Sam forever. He felt quiet and calm around him in a way he hadn’t around anyone else in his life. People exhausted Peter, it was a part of life, a part of being introverted, and something he was used to; but being around Sam wasn’t like that.

There wasn’t a good way to describe it. Spending time with Sam- even with Gabi in a loud and public restaurant- didn’t feel like he was spending time with _people_. It felt like how Peter felt when he was alone.

He shook his head, turning his head away from where he had absently turned to look out the window, lost in his thoughts, and trying to bring his focus back to the essay at hand. Not that he thought he would get very far with it at this point.

“Pete!” Gabi called from partway across the store. Peter leaned out from where he was hiding behind the booth to wave her over, and almost froze when he saw Sam beside her.

 _Shit shit shit shit_ , Peter thought as he leaned back into the booth, taking the few seconds he had before Gabi and Sam arrived to try and stave off the inbound panic. _It’s like she knew what I was thinking, fuck, fuck-_

“Hey, Peter,” Sam interrupted Peter’s mental tirade, and he looked up with what he hoped was a genuine-looking smile on his face.

“Hey, Sam.”

“In,” Gabi said, walking up and standing impatiently behind Sam, gesturing at the other side of the booth from Peter with a cup in one hand. “Scootch over.” If anything, Peter was at least thankful Gabi wasn’t making him sit next to Sam. He wasn’t sure he would have survived _that_.

“Hey, so Peter, have you come here before? I’m a barista here most weekends and I thought I recognized you…”

“Oh uh, yeah!” Peter said, grinning sheepishly, “I thought I recognized you from here too, I come here to study most Saturdays, but I didn’t want to say anything the other day in case it wasn’t you.” Peter laughed, only a little awkwardly, and was grateful to see Sam chuckle too.

“Wow, that’s crazy, small world I guess?”

“Yeah. Gabi actually introduced me to this place, but she never mentioned she knew anyone who worked here so I never made the connection between Vandal and her old friend from home.”

“Dude, that’s crazy!” Sam grinned at Peter like it was the easiest thing in the world, and some knot in Peter’s stomach loosened, just a little. “Wait, ok, have you tried the coffee cake here, though?” Sam started on what seemed like the beginning of an old tirade, given Gabi’s eyeroll despite her smile. Peter shook his head in response, which Sam took as an opportunity for him to wax poetic on his love for Vandal’s coffee cake. And obviously, how much better it was than Starbucks’.

It had only been two days of actually talking to him, but Peter already couldn’t imagine not having Sam’s exuberance and dry wit in his life; it felt like something missing had finally shifted into place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you all for reading, and if you haven't been keeping up w the Very Busy eldonado tag on ao3, i posted a new one shot fic a few days ago- What It's Like to Shine- that is a fantasy au based on the movie Stardust on netflix!! please drop on over there and read if youre interested! its cute and sweet and a fluffy fantasy get together where peter is literally a star that Glows ghjklhjghl  
> anyway!! thank you again for reading and hopefully i'll update again soon!

**Author's Note:**

> fun fact, the globe theatre in london actually did a performance of midsummer a couple years back AND actually did genderflip helena/helenus and gave us a happy gay couple by the end, SO there is precedent for this happening, but also i love midsummer and i wanted this to happen so i wrote it bc that's how this works


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